Category: Recipes

Griseldis (dark short pastry)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

200 g soft butter
130 g (a little bit less than 2/3 cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoons „Kirschwasser“ (a German kirsch/cherry schnapps)
300 g (2 ½ cups) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Other Ingredients:

Apricot preserves (or other kind of preserves)
Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the flour, the baking powder and the cocoa.  Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough and cut the cookies (must be an even number of cookies with same shapes).

Bake them at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit) for about 10-15 minutes.  Allow everything to cool down. Warm up the apricot preserves.  Afterwards spread the apricot preserves in between two cookies of the same shape. Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and spread the chocolate glaze on top of the two cookies.

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Nussecken (Nut Triangles)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

65g (a little bit less than 1/3 cup) soft butter
65g ( a little bit less than 1/3 cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 egg
150g (1 ¼ cups) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for the Topping:

3 tablespoons apricot preserves
100g (a little bit less than ½ cup) butter
100g (a little bit less than ½ cup) granulated cane sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons water
100g (a little bit less than 1 cup) ground hazelnuts
100g (a little bit less than 1 cup) sliced almonds

Other Ingredients:

Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

First prepare the dough: Mix the butter, the sugar and the egg together and beat them until fluffy. Then add the flour and the baking powder. Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough and put it onto a greased baking tray.

Now prepare your topping: Warm up the apricot preserves and spread the warm apricot preserves onto the dough using a spatula. Melt the butter, the sugar and the water in a pot. Add hazelnuts and almonds promptly. Spread the mixture as a last layer on the apricot preserves coat.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit). Be careful, as the cookie turns dark quickly. Allow everything to cool down and cut in triangles. Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and brush two of the triangle corners of one cookie with chocolate.

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Schokoladenbrot (German chocolate bread)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

250 g (1 1/8 cups) soft butter
250 g (1 1/8 cups) granulated cane sugar
6 eggs
250 g (9 ounces) grated dark chocolate
250 g (2 1/8 cups) ground almonds
100 g (1/2 + 1/3 cup) flour

Other Ingredients:

Dark chocolate glaze

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the chocolate, the almonds and the flour.   Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and spread the soft mixture onto a greased baking tray.

Bake for about 20 minutes at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit). Let everything rest. While still warm, cut with a big knife into small squares or rectangles.  Allow everything to cool down.  Melt the chocolate glaze in water bath and spread the chocolate glaze on top of the squares or rectangles.

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Schwabenbrötle (Swabian cookies)

Ingredients for the Cookie Dough:

250 g (1 1/8 cups) soft butter
250 g (1 1/8 cups) granulated cane sugar
2 egg whites
250 g (2 1/8 cups) ground hazelnuts
375g (3 1/8 cups) flour
1 pinch of cinnamon

Other Ingredients:

2 beaten egg yolks

Instructions:

Mix all the liquid ingredients together and beat them until fluffy.  Then add the hazelnuts and the cinnamon.  Mix well all the ingredients for the dough and let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Once the dough isn’t that soft anymore, roll out the dough, cut the cookies and brush them with the beaten egg yolks.

Bake them at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit) for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.  Allow everything to cool down and keep them in a cookie jar during the Holiday season.